ADVICE NEEDED RE:PC FAN

[JSngry]

Get this message immediately after the BIOS kicks in that that says "Alert! Previous Fan Failure! Press F1 to continue or F2 to enter Startup"

The thing is, to my knowledge, the fans on my PC have never failed. I hit F1, and everything proceeds normally.

I called Dell(hi) tech support, and they were basically useless, telling me that my processor fan was broken. It's obviously not, at least not that I've seen. The fan around the HD is working too, and has been.

So - what triggers this message? How seriously should I take it (I know, heat kills...), and what do I need to be on the lookout for.

As always, Thanks In Advance!

[Claude]

It could be that the fan takes a bit longer to reach it's normal speed (due to dust or age), which then triggers a fan fail warning. Check if the CPU fan is clean.

You could disable the Fan fail warning in the Bios settings, but that would also cause the PC not to give a message when the fan really fails.

Edited January 10, 2006 by Claude

[7/4]

You need a new power supply. That's where the fan is.

They go. If the fan doesn't work, the machine gets fried.

You want to fix this asap.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I got this problem on my laptop about three months ago, laptop being about two years old at that stage. It started slowly; every so often, it would quietly turn itself off. It seemed to be warmer and warmer every week. Eventually, it got so it wouldn't let me restart; "Oh no, I'm fed up!" Zonk.

I sent it for repair under the insurance and the response came back that there was two years' worth of general dust, bits and shit in the cooling fan.

Yours might be OK for a bit longer, but I should make sure you stay well backed up.

MG

[JSngry]

Thanks, y'all!

A replacement fan will be ordereed and the old one cleaned!

[Big Wheel]

What's the best way to clean the dust out of a laptop fan system? I don't want to blow all the dust back into the computer.

[couw]

I use a vacuum cleaner on a low speed

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I use a vacuum cleaner on a low speed

Gawd - the wonders of modern technology. I use a one speed insurance policy.

MG

[couw]

I use a vacuum cleaner on a low speed

Gawd - the wonders of modern technology. I use a one speed insurance policy.

that too, but pills beat surgery in the convenience department

[Claude]

You need a new power supply. That's where the fan is.

They go. If the fan doesn't work, the machine gets fried.

You want to fix this asap.

I don't know about Dell PCs, but most current PCs don't have one but 4-5 fans:

- CPU

- Power supply

- Mainboard northbridge

- graphic card

- and sometimes an additional case fan

The most important is the CPU fan. If it fails, the CPU can fry. That's why the BIOS alarm normally only checks that fan.

[Jim Dye]

My Father-In-Law's Dell started showing this message AFTER he replaced a noisy cpu fan. The replacement fan probably didn't match the exact specs of the failing fan, so the BIOS kicks in with the warning message. Everything else is fine, though.

Let us know if the message goes away one you replace the fan, Jim.

[JSngry]

Fan just now arrived & replaced, message gone, all is well, for now, at least. Charlie's glad to have me out of his room, and I'm glad to be back on a non-wireless keyboard.

One thing though, the voltage on both fans are identical, but the old one says 9 amps & the new one says 6. Is this going to be a problem?